the hunting community thought they were immune to public dissent and loss of support for their culture and recreational pursuits of choice. 15 years ago, those "small and worthless group(s) so far out of the mainstream" proposed ballot measures severly limiting hunting activities and the ability to manage wildlife by state game agencies. Hunting groups were certain these rediculous notions would fail....and they were wrong. those ballot measures passed, well in the majority (even in those "red counties"). 10 years ago, those not so "small and worthless group(s) so far out of the mainstream" proposed more ballot measures (which passed or were reaffirmed) and legislative measures to state legislative bodies that increasingly represented an apathetic, non-hunting public that didn't give a damn about the hunting culture and what it valued. And those legistlative measures passed, in overwhelming fashion. 5 years ago, hunting organizations and groups began to cry foul, to very little/no avail. To little, to damn late... What hunters failed to notice was two things: 1) while the number of hunters were increasing, noted by increasingly crowded hunting grounds, the percentage of hunters in the total US population was declining, fast--they were/are the minority; and 2) the increasingly non-hunting public was getting increasingly apathetic to the world around them, less interested in the facts and researching them, and more interested in sensationalized sound bites, no matter how true or false they maybe-they were much more interested in "Bambi" getting capped by the evil slob hunter in his H2, then the reality that "Bambi's" over-populating their own back yards, starving to death and colliding with their Mercedes' and BMW's and Caddy's and Lincolns and VW's and Kias... Hey, if over 40% of the voting public STILL BELIEVES Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction" and even more believed Saddam had something to do with the attacks on 9/11, i guess they'll believe anything!!! and that WAS in the "red counties..."

Last year, PETA made national headlines with its release of "research" from "scientists" in the United Kingdom, "proving" that fish felt pain. And they made the most of it. A sensationistic media was all to happy to accomodate... And while it didn't take long for peer review and real science to shoot holes in the research and arguement, do you honestly think the apethetic public heard that side of the story? Hell no! I'd bet MORE than 40% of the public would now believe fish feel pain (and fly fisherman are responsible for the decline/extinction of salmon in the PNW - after all, we're stickin' cold hard steel in the delicate mouths of those poor innocent little fishies...Bambi in scales... Hey, if Saddam and Osama are best of buds, anythings possible!! ).

As our society becomes increasingly urban, and cares less and less about the values an increasingly minority of the population has, the ideas of those "small and worthless groups so far out of the mainstream" will become increasingly powerful and influential, because they will no longer be so far out of the mainstream. And what today seems rediculous, bogus and laughable will be come accepted as gospel and by a public that could care less about finding out the truth. After all, those barbaric neanderthals in gortex ENJOY torturing "Nemo" with their iron hooks and other torture devices, only to turn them loose to do it all again... (Hey, if the chicken hawks in this administration, rattling sabres to take down Saddam, had in an earlier life GIVEN him all the WMD's he could possibly want to do their dirty work, then anything's possible, right?.....oh wait, that DID happen....never mind... )

Save some of that Shiraz, someday you may need it to remember the good ol' days...